The Producers Guild of America has chosen Ryan Murphy's film adaptation of the Larry Kramer AIDS drama The Normal Heart to receive the 2015 Stanley Kramer Award.

Mark Ruffalo
Photo by Photo by Jojo Whilden/HBO

The award was created in 2012 to honor producer and director Stanley Kramer who created some of the most influential movies in cinema history including "Inherit the Wind," "On the Beach," and "Guess Who's Coming to Dinner."

The Stanley Kramer Award celebrates a "production, producer or other individual whose achievement or contribution illuminates and raises public awareness of important social issues", reports Deadline.com. The recipient is chosen by a seven-person committee selected by PGA’s Board of Directors. Past award winners include "Fruitvale Station," "Hotel Rwanda," and "An Inconvenient Truth."

National Executive Director of the Producers Guild, Vance Van Petten stated, "The film is both a moving narrative that lends a human face to the crucial early struggles against HIV/AIDS, and a compelling call to uphold the activist legacy of its creators and inspiration."

The award will be received by executive producers on January 24, 2015 at the Hyatt Regency Century Plaza at the 26th Annual Producers Guild Awards.

Accoding to HBO: "Ruffalo portrays Ned Weeks, who witnesses first-hand a mysterious disease that has begun to claim the lives of many in his gay community and starts to seek answers. Bomer plays Felix Turner, a reporter who becomes Ned’s lover. Kitsch plays Bruce Niles, a closeted investment banker who becomes a prominent AIDS activist. Parsons plays gay activist Tommy Boatwright... Roberts plays physician Dr. Emma Brookner, a survivor of childhood polio who treats several of the earliest victims of HIV-AIDS.

Executive-produced by Murphy, Jason Blum, Dede Gardner and Dante Di Loreto, "The Normal Heart," according to press notes, "tells the story of the onset of the HIV-AIDS crisis in New York City in the early 1980s, taking an unflinching look at the nation’s sexual politics as gay activists and their allies in the medical community fought to expose the truth about the burgeoning epidemic to a city in denial."

The creative team for the film includes production designer Shane Valentino, director of photography Danny Moder, editor Adam Penn, costume designer Daniel Orlandi and composer Cliff Martinez.

Kramer’s play debuted at New York’s Public Theater in 1985. The 2011 Broadway revival garnered five Tony nominations, winning for Best Revival, Best Featured Actor and Best Featured Actress.